Going into his third year in the NBA, 21-year-old Bismack Biyombo is not yet at the pinnacle of his athletic potential. So says CrossFit Level 1 Seminar Staff member Dave Lipson, who trains the 6-foot-9, 245-lb. Charlotte Bobcats forward at CrossFit Reflex in Santa Monica, Calif.

“The first workout we put him through,” Lipson says, “it was pretty challenging to him, which is both, um, scary and exciting in that as good as he is, he’s really only working at a fraction of his athletic capacity.”

Thus, Biyombo gets a dose of air squats, push-ups and other basic-level gymnastics.

“One of the things that we’re working with him on is developing his power through the use of Olympic lifts, and then we’re laying over conditioning on top of that to try to give him that capacity,” Lipson says, “so he can basically outlast or outwork those other players.”

Mixed into that training is Fight Gone Bad.

“Man, this is harder than the pre-season,” says Biyombo, who was the seventh overall pick in the 2011 draft.

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